From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Feb 09 2009 - 17:42:53 EST
ACE Award Recipient to Study Ugandan Politics
Ask Meron Medhanie where she is from and she hesitates. Her identity is
clear, but it takes a little explaining. She was raised in Oakland, but
her parents are natives of Eritrea; she knows America best, but she
feels African, too.
Her heritage and a fascination with politics drive Medhanie's interest
in African affairs. A recipient of Loyola Marymount University's
Academic Community of Excellence research award for spring 2009,
Medhanie, a junior communications major with a political science minor,
will use the grant to delve further into the role of women in Uganda's
politics.
The ACE awards are research grants that strategically prepare
undergraduate scholars for admission into graduate and professional
studies programs. Students who receive undergraduate research awards
work with a faculty adviser over the course of a semester and present
their work at the annual ACE Research Symposium in the fall.
Medhanie will work with Jok Madut Jok, associate professor of history in
the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts. "He was the first person who
came to mind. After taking his Contemporary Africa class, I knew he
would be the right professor to guide my research."
Medhanie has worked on campus to educate the LMU community about the
troubles that plague Africa. She was a special projects coordinator for
LMU's Office of Intercultural Affairs and was instrumental in organizing
programs about the plight of child soldiers. She also helped form Melkam
Akwaaba, a student service club whose mission is to increase Loyola
Marymount's awareness about Africa and to eliminate misunderstandings
about the continent.
About her LMU experience, she said, "The emphasis on social justice and
interculturalism on the campus is very important to me."
http://www.lmu.edu/Page52644.aspx